Innovative research methods in comparative research on social work practice

Comparing social work practice in European countries is challenging as there are a lot of local differences to take in to account as well as differences in how practices are defined. In this paper we will present tryouts and... [ view full abstract ]

Comparing social work practice in European countries is challenging as there are a lot of local differences to take in to account as well as differences in how practices are defined. In this paper we will present tryouts and the development of different innovative methods for describing and comparing practices. These methods are developed within the frame of COST Action 1106 on Offender Supervision in Europe, where researchers from different European countries try to explore innovative methods in research on probation practice and use them in a comparative framework. More specifically we will focus on the work that has been done by academics and practitioners from Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, France, Spain and Romania concerning the development of the data-collection method of observations as a new way of trying to describe and compare probation practice throughout Europe.

Research on probation tends to be mostly interview- or survey-based. Therefore it seems that most of the research that has been conducted in the past often reveals what professionals say they do and not what they are actually doing in daily practice. As our elaboration with methods concerns what they are doing when they are practicing offender supervision, the methodological framework seems relevant to discuss in relation to all kinds of practices in social work. How do we really grasp what practitioners are doing?

In this presentation we will set the scene by briefly describing the general framework of the different methods that are explored and then focus on observations as a data collection method in comparative research on practice. We will present the (1) methodological framework, (2) focus on methodological issues that we encountered and (3) explain how we tried to address these issues.